Hello from East Lake! You know, just when it started cooling off in NYC (in fact, it’s been near perfect), I head south, where it’s a sweaty and balmy 90 degrees.

I’ve been traveling and roaming around the course that I haven’t even had a chance to write about Commissioner Finchem’s annual State of the PGA Tour address. I must say that it was fantastic reading material for the plane — it put me right to sleep. Kidding!

If I can get past the boring business-speak, I strangely find his chats rather entertaining. You know, because, it’s always sunny on the PGA Tour! More thoughts and highlights after I’m done transcribing quotes from the players I chatted with this afternoon.

Aside from the predictable Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup talk, the most interesting tidbit came from Jim Furyk, who told me Phil Mickelson’s $3,000 shoes were stolen from his locker at Cog Hill (the BMW Championship). Apparently the guys gave Phil a bit of a hard time. Well, hopefully he wasn’t too attached to that particular pair. I would have loved to ask Phil about it, but he wasn’t around.

Last year my friend’s camera gear disappeared from his work area at Cog Hill, and this year, there were reports of stolen equipment, as well. And they say East Lake is in a sketchy area!

Oh, we get fancy little placards in the media center.

Stay tuned for more posts tonight and, of course, all week at East Lake.